Centuries of experience for trademarks? I seem to recall it
being much younger than that. And abuse of such concepts has
increased exponentially over the past few decades.
If you visit Chester in the UK you can see buildings with guildmarks
made before Columbus sailed.
The first Trade Mark registry was established in the UK in 1875 but the
common law tort of passing off is much older and remains in force today.
Many of the guild marks were and are protected by specific royal
charters that effectively grant a monopoly of use since usurping a coat
of arms is an offense.
In 1977 at the time of the Silver Jubilee a case of this type had to be
hurriedly abandonded after a charge of 'usurping the royal coat of arms'
was brought against a man for producing an unauthorized bedspread with
the royal coat of arms. It was only after the charges were brought that
the prosecutors discovered that this was a capital charge that had been
overlooked in the bill eliminating the death penalty.
Phill
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